As a hypnotist one of the main questions I always ask people is have you been hypnotized before? The majority of people usually answer this question with a simple “no”. Once in a while I will meet someone who says they have been hypnotized, but that’s pretty rare here in Columbus.

When I hear someone say they haven’t been hypnotized before I think to myself this is great! I have a chance to educate someone on hypnosis and maybe, just maybe change the way someone views this wonderful profession. To me it’s the law of compounding. One person tells one person and another person tells two people and so on.

The fact is that most of the people on this planet have been hypnotized or been in hypnosis. Now you may be reading this saying I think I would know if I’ve been hypnotized before. I have never been to a hypnotist. My answer back to all of you saying that is if you have never been hypnotized before, then how do you know what hypnosis is?

This answer usually has people scratching their heads a little and this is where I grab their attention. Many people think hypnosis is where a hypnotist yells “SLEEP”! On stage and they see a person drop into what the audience perceives as sleep. The fact of the matter is that what you have just seen is nothing more then a ritual some hypnotists perform to demonstrate to the public a physical or mental change that has happened. This is what we call an induction.

We can actually see a person go from being alert to a relaxed state in a matter of seconds. They are not asleep, just in a very focused, relaxed and heighten state. This ritual helps to convince people that something has just taken place. Still what the hypnotist just did isn’t hypnosis, it’s nothing more then an induction, which leads to hypnosis. Hypnosis is the state that the person is in after the induction is performed.

So now that a person is in hypnosis, what does it feel like? The only way to tell if you have been in hypnosis is to have something to compare it too, especially if you don’t know anything about how hypnosis feels. Understand that hypnosis isn’t magic or some special powers we process. Hypnosis is a natural process. Yes, you heard me correctly hypnosis is a natural process.

The majority of humans excluding a few certain situations are born with the ability to enter hypnosis. All hypnosis is Self Hypnosis. Plus, most of us stay in a continuing state of hypnosis until we are about 4,5,6 or 7 depending on the mature rate of the child. All I do as a hypnotist is help to facilitate the process for you. Think of it as lacing up your shoes. We all have the ability to do this, but until someone teaches us we can tie our shoes we just don’t know how too. In other words most of us enter into certain forms of hypnosis unconsciously, but we are born with the ability to bring hypnosis on consciously.

In a second I’m going to write a list here and if you have ever done one of them then you have been in hypnosis. Some of you may not believe me, but you don’t have too. That’s the great thing about being human we have a choice. Still, you would seek out the knowledge of a medical doctor when sick because they are trained in their field. You have recognized that they have some knowledge you don’t about your illness. Think of a hypnotist in the same degree. We are trained in the art of hypnotism, thus we have some knowledge about this field you don’t. So just keep this in mind when reading the list below.

So here is the list:

1.Have you ever been driving on the highway and “zoned out”, then the next moment you notice you have come to your exit or destination? If so, then you have just experienced a form of hypnosis.

2.Have you ever been to see a movie? As your watching the movie you are in a state of hypnosis.

3.Have you ever cried during a movie? If so, then you have been in hypnosis

4.Have you ever been watching a TV show or Sports game and you don’t hear someone calling your name because you’re so involved in the show or game? If so, then you have been in hypnosis.

5.Have you ever been involved in a real good book? If so, then you have been in hypnosis?

6.Have you ever been to a church? The moment you step into a church you are in hypnosis. Most churches don’t realize they are even using hypnosis, but they are.

7.Have you ever been at school or at work and started daydreaming? If so, you have been in hypnosis.

8.Have you ever gotten so mad at someone that you started to yell at them and said things you wish you hadn’t? If so, then you have been in hypnosis.

9.Have you ever been in love? If so, then you have been in hypnosis.

If you have experienced any of the above items, then you have been in hypnosis. Hypnosis is nothing more then when your judgmental mind steps aside. The moment you suspend judgment you have hypnosis. We call this the suspension of the Critical Factor. The Critical Factor is the part of your mind that determines weather new suggestions are accepted or rejected. As long as the critical factor is active, it will reject any suggestion that doesn’t match with your current believe system.

Hypnosis is all around you and now you have the ability to spot it. Marketing executives use it all the time when designing TV ads. They know exactly how to bypass this critical factor using sounds, words and images.

I know some of you are looking at this list and saying, but I wasn’t asleep! Once again hypnosis isn’t sleep. While in hypnosis you can hear everything going on. You can come out of it at any time. You can be in hypnosis with eyes open. You will not do anything against your morals or ethics. Hypnosis is just a state of mind we all enter through the day. It is normal and it’s completely safe.

So take some time and think about this before you judge something you know nothing about. Hypnosis can be a wonderful tool to create some fantastic changes in your life.
If you like to learn more, check out this site and you will find some great resources to help you out. You can also contact me as well to ask me any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them for you. Thank you and have a hypnotic day!

If your interesting in learning more about Hypnosis, NLP & Personal Development feel free to check our Free Hypnosis Community.